An Attempt at some Depth and Escapism.

Wired: There are a lot of leaders who don't have charisma.

SG: Well Al Gore has charisma now. Where did Al find his charisma? The charisma showed up because he was leading. I don't think you can lead correctly with transparency and create a movement if you're not passionate about it. The passion and the leadership go together and once you've done those things you are seen as being charismatic by the people who are following you.... What makes you a leader is not that you own a company with 150 people. What makes you a leader is that you are leading people who want to be led, going somewhere they want to go.

original article here.

I realized the other day that I wasn't happy.

It's odd. I have a great job that's taking me in a great direction. I have a great wife; our relationship gets better everyday. I'm healthy have a relative abundance of wealth and have great friends and family.

But I still felt a void.

I realized that I felt trapped. I felt trapped by the house we purchased, the car we lease, the dishes that need to be cleaned, the chores that need to be done. I wasn't spending a lot of time with friends, didn't feel like I was growing in my career and most importantly felt like I wasn't being creative.

I haven't spent much time with my music but I realized this.

If doing what I want to do is my job objective, then doing what I want to do should be make me happy. If I'm doing what I set out to do: to do something that I WANT to do. Then that very thing should be simultaneously making me happy. If I'm doing what I want to do and it's making me UNHAPPY, then I have to admit that I want to be unhappy. Once I admit that I have been choosing to be unhappy I stop blaming everyone but me. Once the blame and responsiblity is on my shoulders I start to have new thoughts about how I live. Thoughts lead to words and words lead to actions.

I'm on a new path here as I discover and uncover the meaning of desire and want in a persons life. It all comes back to desire and want. That's the only way to make it through the dip.

There's only so much time in one day:

For Sleep, Work, Exercise, Cleaning, Cooking, Friends, Family, Phone Calls, Blogging, RSS Feeds, Study, Playing Music, Listening to Music, Chores, Driving, Planning, Volunteering and interruptions. Just not enough time.

So you do 1 of 2 things.

1. Do the same stuff faster
2. Do less stuff

I think it's a combination of both. End of post. : )

This manifesto for change has altered my thinking today. On days "off" from my on the clock job I spend the majority of my time hanging out with ideas. This manifesto is great writing, and while I see their blog hasn't been updated for a year, (I usually link to something that is a bit more modern) I see this manifesto as having staying power.

I think I need to start a daily reflection blog where I can respond to Seth Godin's posts. Today he validated why I know that I'm not on a career path towards fickleness but on a steady march in one grand direction. I may be passing through a lot of cities as I near some more major, longer lasting destinations on this journey but having a job for 5 months is still plenty long to learn a few things.

His post is about content vs. process. That when you study in school is content - skills and people. Process is how you work, vision, perseverance, hope and the like. The first you can learn. The second you may pick up - but not necessarily - and is much harder to come by and track.

You may look at my resume and judge my process on my content, but after working for an online music retailer, a furniture retailer in the mall, a musical artist, a record label, a website developer, a fashion designer, a ministry and a grocery store I've moved steadily upwards in both content AND process.

Most importantly are the process lessons I've learned.

> how to work with a graphic designer (I've had this at 4 of my jobs - all very different designers!)
> 300 ways a marketing program can be futile
> Ideas vs. Completion of a Project
> Authority
> The meaning of creativity
> When to Quit
> When to Stick
> Hiring
> Hardwork
> Hardthinking
> Hardideas
> How to have fun
> Talk and work at the same time - women seem to learn this before men
> Managing resources
> Learning to grab time's tail

All of this, unfortunately was not taught to me at school, and I didn't have the foreknowledge to go grab it. Now I do.

Merlin Mann of 43 folders said this of John Gruber at Mac World, "He so consistently articulates what you wish you thought and it's aggravating!"

That's how I feel about my pastor and Seth Godin.

As I dig back into tech. (My current job doesn't require much tech) I'm amazed at the new strides by Gmail, Google Reader and Blogger. They make everything so easy to use and maintain. Right now I've funneled three mail accounts to my main account, while still only forwarding the right messages to my phone and make my ancillary accounts available but not urgent. I filter everything.

I just visited Noise Trade and added all of their recommended blogs to my reader. They represent a single model that appears will be a continued success, and in our new economy (I guess in any human endevor) success begins with ideas. I wanted to see what ideas these guys were into. Many of the blogs I was familiar with but now I will keep up tabs a bit better.

I already had one in my reader, and that of course is my marketing/business/idea guru - Seth Godin.

Soak in Ideas